Once Upon A Dream
by Stelra Etnae
Summary: Bound by his promise, Watanuki has stayed in the shop for decades, never His time has stopped but the time outside the shop moves as it always does, and too soon he finds things that he once took for granted slipping through his But a meeting in a dream reassures him that he hasn't actually lost This is the story of a friendship that will never


_**I've been wanting to write a fanfic for this fandom for quite a while. So happy that I finally completed a story (though it's just a one-shot)!**_

_**Warning: The following story contains minor spoilers from the end of the xxxHolic manga and the OVA Rou Adayume.**_

_**According to the info on the xxxHolic wikia, Shizuka's great-grandson was named Sayaka.**_

_**Hope you enjoy this story!**_

* * *

"Yes... Yes, I understand... I'll be fine. Don't worry... You don't have to come tomorrow. I know you'll be busy... Bye."

"Watanuki?" Maru tugged on the sleeve covering the arm which still held the phone receiver to his ear, despite the speaker on the other side having hung up long ago.

"Watanuki?" Equally concerned, Moro wrapped her fingers around his free hand.

Their touch seemed to snap Watanuki out of a daze. His vision cleared as he looked at the girls' who were both looking up at him with wide eyes. He managed a small smile. "I'm fine. Don't worry," he repeated his previous statement, almost as if trying to convince himself of its truth.

The frowns on the twins' faces didn't lessen. "Watanuki's sad."

He leaned down to plant kisses on their foreheads, one after another. "I expected this a long time ago. It's just a little shocking now that it has actually happened. I'll feel better tomorrow." He gave them a quick hug and turned. "I'm going to bed now." He paused at the doorway leading to the bedroom. "Oh, and if Sayaka comes tomorrow, tell him to go back. He's going to have enough to do without having to worry about an old man like me."

Maru and Moro traded concerned glances as the door shut softly behind the slim figure.

* * *

Watanuki opened his eyes at the sound of wind whistling between the leaves, knowing that he was once again in the Dream World. He stared out at the magnificently blooming sakura tree, wondering how something could be so beautiful and full of life when all he felt was hollow inside.

As always, the familiar figure sat at his side on the wooden veranda. He pushed away his feeling of sadness and turned to smile (albeit rather weakly) at his friend. "Good evening, Haru-"

His voice died in his throat. The man who sat beside him that night was not Doumeki Haruka, though he could have easily been mistaken for the man. But Watanuki was one of the few that knew both well enough to identify each of them without a problem.

"…Doumeki…?" His voice caught slightly.

It had been almost ten years since he had received the news of Shizuka's death. It had been a peaceful one, brought about by old age, but it had still hurt like someone had poured salt into a wound. Kohane's recent passing, which he had heard of no more than an hour ago, had been a knife in an injury that had barely healed, even after so long.

And now… Shizuka was sitting next to him, looking just like how Watanuki remembered him from the far off days of high school, though he wore a simple yukata rather than a school uniform. Shizuka turned to look at him with that familiar firm gaze.

There was the sound of rustling cloth and soft footsteps on wood from behind them. Watanuki wanted to turn, but couldn't move. He temporarily forgot how to breathe.

"Did you really think that we would leave you, Kimihiro-kun?"

It was as if the sound of her voice broke him from his frozen state. He spun around so fast that he might have sprained something if his physical body had been present. His eyes were wide, showing all the clearer the grief in them. He longingly reached out a hand towards her, wanting to confirm that she was there."Kohane-chan…"

Kohane, likewise once again returned to her youthful image and clad in a lovely pale pink kimino, smiled sweetly at Watanuki as she approached. She took his outstretched hand as she sat down on his other side with an elegant swish of silk. Her fingers laced through his and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"We're still here, Kimihiro-kun. We'll always be here by your side. Always." Her free hand moved upwards to cup his cheek gently. Watanuki leaned in to the touch. "You've been lonely, Kimihiro-kun. We're sorry."

He shook his head. "Don't be. And I'm not really lonely." He grinned a little wryly, but it was the first true smile since he heard of Kohane's death. "Sayaka has been keeping me company, after all."

Kohane's eyes twinkled. "He's a good boy."

"Yeah." Watanuki smiled in fond remembrance. "He's similar to you in some ways, Kohane-chan. But at the same time, he looks and acts too much like that damn great-grandfather of his."

"Oi, _sake_."

A tick formed on Watanuki's temple. "Exactly like that! Kohane-chan, why did you marry a lout like him!?" When Kohane just laughed, Watanuki turned to glare at Shizuka. "Is my name '_Sake_', you drunkard!?"

The taller man just stared back at him with a deadpan expression.

"…_Sake_."

"Argh! Fine!" Watanuki held out a hand and seemingly grabbed at thin air, his fingers curling around the neck of a bottle that shimmered into existence. Though by all appearances he would very much rather have Shizuka's neck in his grasp, and the way his grip tightened dangerously on the bottleneck indicated so. He slammed the sake down next to Shizuka, who had not even bothered to move since the beginning of the dream.

Taking the bottle, Shizuka nonchalantly poured a generous portion of sake into three glasses ('if he could get glasses, couldn't he get his own sake?' Watanuki griped) downed the contents of one glass in a single gulp and refilled it before pushing the other two glasses over to his companions.

He held out the now empty bottle to his old friend.

"…_Sake_."

Watanuki snapped in the way that few people alive now had seen him do, for it was something he only did when faced with Doumeki Shizuka (also known in Watanuki's mind as 'Most Annoying Guy in Existence'). "Is that the only thing that you can say!?"

Shizuka appeared to give it some thought. "More _sake_," he finally intoned. "And make it a better one."

Watanuki started ranting about ungrateful picky louts and idiots who passed on their unfavorable genes to the next generations.

"Just get used to hearing it for the rest of your life, idiot shopkeeper."

"Now why would I want to do tha–?" Watanuki's voice trailed off. "…the rest of my life, is it?" He didn't turn, not wanting to show the tears that had sprung to his eyes unbidden. "I suppose I could live with that."

"_Sake_."

"I got it already!"

Kohane just smiled as she delicately sipped from her glass, content to just watch the two men squabble as they always did. It was a strange concept, but she knew that their friendship was built on the very arguments that they frequently engaged in.

_"You'll never be alone, Kimihiro-kun. We'll make sure of that."_

She didn't voice those feelings out, but she knew that Watanuki now understood that. As if in response to her thought, he turned to smile at her again, and she saw that the light had returned to his eyes.

* * *

Watanuki drifted into consciousness, feeling warm. He made to get up, but found that he couldn't do so without dislodging the two small figures that had curled up to him at some point in the night. The twins gripped the fabric of his shirt tightly.

"Watanuki..." they murmured in their sleep.

His expression was fond as he gently patted their heads, careful not to wake them. The girls smiled and snuggled closer.

He glanced up at the sound of footsteps entering the room.

"I told you not to come."

"I couldn't not come." Golden eyes observed him thoughtfully. "You're alright?" It was half a question, half a statement.

"I'm fine," he said, and this time he really meant it.

"Are you sure?"

"What's with the questions?" Watanuki rolled his eyes. "And look, you woke up Maru and Moro." Watanuki kissed their foreheads before rising. "Good morning."

"Good morning," they responded sleepily, but with smiles.

Watanuki picked up a dressing gown on the way out of the room, brushing past Sayaka who stood beside the doorway. The youth followed him. "You're really fine?"

"You're being annoying."

"I'm just concerned."

Watanuki's hand paused in the motion of picking up his pipe, but soon continued with the practiced motions of lighting it. Taking a puff from it, he finally turned to look into Sayaka's eyes. "I'm fine," he repeated clearly. Spinning on his heel to head towards the kitchen, he tossed over his shoulder, "Because I had a dream."

With that, he disappeared into the room, leaving Sayaka no time to respond. Through the kitchen window, he looked out at the sakura tree which was blooming as brilliantly as the one in the dream.

_I'm fine, because all of you are here. No matter whether it was in body or soul, you'll all here. Loving me, caring for me... So that I'll never be alone._

_Thank you, everyone._

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**_Please review!_**


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